Preparing Dinner, 1858. In an alcove of an Ecouen kitchen a peasant woman stands stooped over a bowl with her back to the viewer. Light streaming through the window illuminates the alcove, showing the onions and apples on the sill, the beets and a wicker basket containing a section of squash on a chest, and an exceptionally large cabbage lying on the floor, as well as various utensils, a wicker hamper, a keg, an iron pot, a large ceramic pitcher and various strainers and ladles hanging from pegs on the wall. Discernible within the dimly lit interior are a chest, several pots, and the wash hung to dry.